Martin Harris

Martin Harris was an early American supporter and financier of the Latter Day Saint movement and is best known as one of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon. A farmer and landowner from Palmyra, New York, Harris played a pivotal role in the financial and evidentiary groundwork for the publication of the Book of Mormon and participated in several formative events involving Joseph Smith Jr., Oliver Cowdery, and other early adherents. His life intersected with multiple religious movements, migrations, and controversies that shaped nineteenth-century American religious history.

Early life and background

Born in Eastown, New York in 1783, Harris grew up in rural Saratoga County, New York during the post-Revolutionary period, a time of westward migration and community formation in New York. He became a prosperous farmer and landowner in the Palmyra and Manchester area, acquiring property and participating in local commerce that connected him with neighbors such as Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith. Harris's social standing in Ontario County and his financial resources made him a significant local figure whose support would prove critical to early Latter Day Saint movement developments.

Involvement with the Latter Day Saint movement

Harris first encountered Joseph Smith Jr. and the purported revelations surrounding the Golden Plates in the late 1820s, becoming an early believer in Smith's claims. He traveled between Palmyra and Harmony, Pennsylvania to examine evidence and serve as a financial conduit, interacting with individuals such as Emma Smith, Hyrum Smith, and scribes like Oliver Cowdery and others who were involved with the translation process. Harris mortgaged his farm and negotiated with printers in Palmyra and Painesville, Ohio to fund the publication of the Book of Mormon, engaging with Egbert B. Grandin and correspondents in New York print circles. His patronage brought him into contact with regional figures including Ethan Smith and local clergy, as well as travelers and converts moving between New England, Pennsylvania, and the Western Reserve.

Role as a Book of Mormon witness

Harris is historically recorded as one of the Three Witnesses who signed a declaration stating they had seen an angel and the Golden Plates from which the Book of Mormon translation was produced. Alongside Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer, Harris provided an affidavit that was published with the first edition of the Book of Mormon, and later recounted encounters with figures such as Joseph Smith Sr. and Emma Hale Smith that contextualized those events. His testimony became a central point in disputes involving critics like Seth Porter and defenders including John Whitmer and Alexander Campbell-era correspondents. Harris's account was invoked in legal settings and pamphlet wars involving figures connected to the Second Great Awakening and the proliferation of new religious movements in antebellum America.

Missionary work and later affiliations

After the publication of the Book of Mormon, Harris participated in missionary efforts and informal preaching alongside converts and leaders from the movement, working with individuals like Parley P. Pratt and Orson Pratt during periods of proselytizing in New York and surrounding states. His path diverged multiple times: he followed the main body of the Latter Day Saints to Kirtland, Ohio, then to Jackson County, Missouri and Nauvoo, Illinois, and later associated with splinter groups during schismatic episodes after the death of Joseph Smith Jr. in 1844. Harris briefly aligned with William Smith and other claimants before ultimately emigrating to the Great Basin to join followers of Brigham Young in the Utah Territory. Across these shifts he interacted with leaders including Sidney Rigdon, James Strang, and Joseph Smith III at various times, reflecting the fractured post-1844 landscape of competing Latter Day Saint affiliations.

Personal life and legacy

Harris's personal life included marriage and family commitments typical of rural nineteenth-century households; his economic risks—especially mortgaging property to finance the Book of Mormon—had lasting consequences. In later years he settled in Utah Territory and lived to see the institutional consolidation under The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leadership. His testimony as one of the Three Witnesses remained a focal point for believers and critics alike, cited by historians, apologists, and polemicists debating the origins of the Book of Mormon and the legitimacy of early Latter Day Saint movement claims. Biographers and scholars have examined Harris's papers and recollections in relation to figures such as Lucy Mack Smith, John Taylor, and Orson Pratt to assess his reliability, motives, and the social networks that shaped early Mormonism. Harris's legacy endures in religious history, legal histories of nineteenth-century America, and ongoing discussions among historians of American religion and migration.

Category:1783 births Category:1875 deaths Category:Early Mormon missionaries